My life use to be so different. For one, I had a life. Don't get me wrong, horses have given me so much, but I do miss the freedom. I miss the lazy mornings. I miss the thrill of something new, different landscapes, all the delicacies world has to offer.
Too often, I've been told: "If you want time off, just say so". And little bit later: "I'm busy then also". And every now and then: "Situation requires immediate attention". That's all part of life, what can you do.
The most important part of stable keeping is one's support system or safety net. Having someone, who likes to look after your horses with love and devotion (and knows what they're doing). Secondly one needs to remember, the well being of the horses begins with the caretaker's well being. This seems to be the hardest part to remember/understand/accept.
It is really hard to let go. Even for a day. I dreamt of having a week off when opportunity for a break came. I would fly somewhere warm and sunny. Then the reality of having a job hit me. Having a week off from work was hard to arrange.
I was able to have the last week of the year off from my day job. I didn't want to ruin anyone's Christmas or new year's, so I "settled" for few days instead of a week. This forced me to forget the warmth while planning my trip.
Even if I had the chance to be away for a week, I most likely wouldn't stay away that long. Few days away would be a perfect rehearsal towards having a life again one day. Since I decided, I'm going to give "having a life" another chance.
I made alist of possible destinations. Safe and already known London. Paris, the city I only had glimpses of before. The inviting Barcelona and culinary must - Rome. Since everyone else in Europe seemed to have their breaks the same time, most of the flights were booked, it was hard to find reasonable flights and hotels. Everything seemed to be either sold out or extremely over priced.
Thanks to National Geographic. They had a story of the bone church in Czeck Rebublic a while back. It popped in front of my eyes again. It felt fate. Prague.
I loved every bit of the trip. Even though I didn't visit the bone church after all. My expectations weren't high but the old town was captivating. Everything was so clean and tidy. It was absolutely beautiful place. There was so much to see and almost everything was on walking distance.
I have one secret weakness. KFC. It is an awful sin for a person so dedicated to animal rights as I am. But Prague was a paradise. First KFC was located on the airport. Next was right next to the hotel I stayed in. There was a KFC where ever you turned your head!
Even though KFC offers the best in fast food scenery, I wanted to eat something else as well. Prague exceeded all of my expectations with its food. Food was good and oh did I eat.
Since everything was on walking distance of everything else, I walked. I walked too much. You can imagine how your feet hurt after walking miles and miles. To me, all the walking was a disaster. After a day and a half I wasn't able to stand anymore. You would think a grown person knows their limits but no. I could have stopped every now and then to sit down. I could've used the tour buses..but no.
Tehre was laso the choice of horse carriage but I couldn't. I felt for the horses. They seemed looked after but..
The most exquisite detail on the whole trip was the fact that everything was fine at home when I came back. I could do this again! Or could I...
- J
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Thanks for your toughts!